5.  The applicant was born in 1969 and lives in Sarajevo.
6.  On 13 February 2003 the Kakanj police lodged a request for minor-offences proceedings to be instituted against the applicant in the Kakanj Minor Offences Court (“the Minor Offences Court”).
7.  In a decision of 16 August 2004 the Minor Offences Court found that, at about 6.40 p.m. on 12 February 2003, the applicant had physically attacked his former wife, M.P., at her flat in Kakanj. The applicant hit M.P. in the head several times and proceeded to punch her about the body in the presence of their minor children. He was found guilty of a minor offence against public order (affray) under section 3(1)(2) of the Public Order Act 2000, for which he was fined 150 convertible marks (BAM)[1]. The relevant part of the decision reads:
“Defendant Muslija Adnan ... is guilty in that at about 6.40 p.m. on 12 February 2003, in Rudi Čajevac street in Kakanj, entering uninvited the hallway of the flat [of his former wife] ... he grabbed M. by the throat ... and then, in the presence of their minor children ... slapped M.’s face several times and continued to punch her about the body while threatening to take the children away from her.”
8.  On 19 October 2004 the Zenica Cantonal Minor Offences Court upheld that decision and it became final.
9.  On 3 August 2006 the applicant paid the fine.
10.  On 18 September 2003 the Cantonal Prosecutor lodged an indictment against the applicant with the Kakanj Municipal Court (“the Municipal Court”) for causing grievous bodily harm to M.P.
11.  On 9 January 2008 the Municipal Court found the applicant guilty of the criminal offence of grievous bodily harm under Article 177 §§ 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code 1998, and sentenced him to three months’ imprisonment. In passing the sentence, the court took into account various mitigating circumstances, such as the lapse of time and the fact that the applicant had not reoffended, that he was the father of three minor children, had no previous convictions, and was unemployed. The court regarded the fact that the incident took place in the presence of the applicant’s and M.P.’s minor children as an aggravating circumstance. The relevant part of the decision reads:
“Defendant Muslija Adnan...is guilty because
at about 7 p.m. on 12 February 2003 in Rudi Čajevac street, Kakanj, he entered the flat of his former wife, M.P. ... and grabbed her by the throat, hit her with his fist several times in the head, stomach and face, thereby causing her grievous bodily harm: a fractured lower jaw ... and a number of lighter injuries ...”
12.  On 7 April 2008 the Zenica Cantonal Court upheld that judgment.
13.  At the applicant’s request, the prison sentence was subsequently converted to a fine in the amount of BAM 9,000. On 22 March 2011 the applicant paid the fine.
14.  On 4 June 2008 the applicant lodged a constitutional appeal complaining that the ne bis in idem principle had been breached.
15.  On 11 January 2011 the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected his appeal. It held that the applicant had been found guilty of a minor offence against public order (affray) in the minor-offences proceedings, whereas he had been convicted of the criminal offence of grievous bodily harm in the criminal proceedings. Although both decisions were based on the same incident, the offences were different in nature and purpose.